Raleigh music school teaching underprivileged kids in need of help
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WAKE COUNTY (WTVD) -- With the help from our ABC11 viewers last year, a high school musician with dreams of a music scholarship was able to raise enough money for the flute he needed, but now his music school - which teaches more than 120 underprivileged children in Wake County - is in trouble.
It's the morning after Thanksgiving and Kyrese Washington is hard at work, playing Mozart, practicing every note.
"I do want to say thank you again to all the people who donated to help me get this flute," Washington said, "because it has been a great gift."
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"He is doing fabulous," his music instructor, Kelly Roudabush said. "I'm so proud of him. He came within a point and a half of being able to audition for All-State last year, so we've been working on the little nitpicky details."
While Roudabush said Kyrese is doing great, their music school is not.
They're holding lessons at the teacher's home because their school, Community Music School, is temporarily shut down while they work to raise money.
WANT TO HELP? DONATE TO COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL HERE
The school offers lessons and instruments to low-income kids for free or at a minimal cost, and runs on donations and grants.
They need to raise $100,000 by Jan. 31, and they're about 20 percent of the way there, but still, Roudabush is worried and said the work they do goes beyond sheets of music.
"If kids appreciate music, appreciate the arts, then they're going to appreciate the culture around them, and it's also about a well-rounded student that's appreciative of their community," Roudabush said.
"They just help so much," Washington said. "Like, I can't imagine what kind of a musician I would be without them."
Now they said every donations counts, no matter how small, to help make the dreams of over 100 Wake County youngsters come true.
"It gets me excited when people are just listening to my music and how happy they get," Washington said.
